> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sequenzy.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Blocked Emails & Spam Placement

> Find out why a mailbox provider refuses your emails or files them in spam, and what to change so they reach the inbox again

Mailbox providers such as Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo decide two things for every email: whether to accept it, and where to put it. This guide covers both ways that can go wrong:

* **Blocked**: the provider refused the email. It tells us why, and we show you the reason.
* **Spam placement**: the provider accepted the email, so it shows as Delivered, but filed it in spam.

Both come from how the provider judges your mail, so both are fixed by changing what you send and who you send it to. Neither clears by waiting.

## Start Here

| What you see | Go to |
| - | - |
| Emails show **Blocked**, or a pause names temporary bounces or blocks | [Find what the provider said](#find-what-the-provider-said) |
| Emails show **Delivered** but people can't find them, or opens collapsed | [Delivered but not in the inbox](#delivered-but-not-in-the-inbox) |
| You're about to send from a new domain or to a new list | [Before your first send](#before-your-first-send) |
| You send one email to each new contact and Gmail refuses it | [When every recipient is new](#when-every-recipient-is-new) |
| You've been asked for, or want, a warm-up schedule | [Why waiting or sending slower doesn't help](#why-waiting-or-sending-slower-doesnt-help) |

## Find What the Provider Said

Start with the provider's own words. They tell you which problem you have.

1. Open **Metrics**. Under **Sender Quality**, click the filter icon on the **Blocked** card.
2. Set **Break down by** to **Mailbox provider**. One provider refusing you points to how that provider sees your mail. Every provider refusing you at once usually points to your DNS records.
3. Open one blocked email from **Sent emails**. The page shows the reason in one sentence, and the provider's reply under **Diagnostic code**.

The same data is available outside the dashboard: `outcome` and `reason` on [Get Email Send](https://docs.sequenzy.com/api-reference/email-sends/get.md) and `sequenzy email-sends get <emailSendId>`, `by=mailbox_provider&outcome=blocked` on [Get Metrics Breakdown](https://docs.sequenzy.com/api-reference/analytics/metrics-breakdown.md), `sequenzy stats --by mailbox_provider --outcome blocked` in the CLI, and the `outcome` argument of the MCP `get_stats_breakdown` tool.

## What the Reason Means

| Reason shown on the email | Typical provider reply | What it means | What to do |
| - | - | - | - |
| The receiver rejected this email as spam | Gmail: `550 5.7.1 ... likely unsolicited mail` | The provider decided its users don't want this email, from how they reacted to your earlier sends. | [Recover from a spam block](#recover-from-a-spam-block) |
| The receiver rejected this email because of the sending domain's reputation | A reply naming your domain or its reputation | Same judgment, attached to your domain instead of one email. | [Recover from a spam block](#recover-from-a-spam-block) |
| The receiver rejected this email because the sender's SPF, DKIM or DMARC check failed | A reply naming SPF, DKIM, DMARC or authentication | A DNS record was changed or removed. | Re-check your records in [Domain Verification](https://docs.sequenzy.com/guides/domain-verification.md) and [DMARC](https://docs.sequenzy.com/guides/dmarc.md). |
| The receiver is limiting how much mail it takes from this sender | Gmail: `421 4.7.28 ... unusual rate of mail` | The provider wants less of your mail right now, and this email was not delivered. | Spread the campaign over more hours and send to your most engaged contacts first. |
| The receiver rejected this email by its content or policy filter | A reply naming content, policy or a security product | A filter objected to the content or a link, or a company's own mail filter blocks you. | For a company mailbox, ask the recipient's IT team to allow your domain. Otherwise review links and content. |
| The receiver rejected an attachment in this email | A reply naming the attachment | The file type or size isn't accepted. | Remove the attachment and link to the file instead. |
| Apple Private Relay rejected this email | `550 5.1.1 Relay not allowed` | Your domain isn't registered with Apple. | See [Apple Private Relay](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/apple-private-relay.md). |

An email that shows **Delayed** is still being retried and needs nothing from you. A full mailbox or an address that doesn't exist is a bounce, not a block. Those are about the address, and [Metrics](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/metrics.md#delivery-failures-vs-bounces) explains how they're handled.

## Why Waiting or Sending Slower Doesn't Help

A provider builds its view of you from how its users react: opening, clicking, replying and moving your email out of spam count for you. Deleting unread, ignoring and reporting spam count against you.

That explains three things that often surprise people:

* **A pause changes nothing.** While you send nothing, the provider learns nothing new. When you resume with the same email to the same kind of audience, you get the same answer.
* **A slower ramp only paces the problem.** A daily schedule controls how many emails go out. It can't make people want an email they ignore. Growing 10% a day to recipients who never engage ends in the same block, a little later.
* **A new domain or subdomain is not a reset.** It starts with no history, so the same email to the same audience earns the same result within days. Providers also recognise your content and links, and treat a switch right after a block as an attempt to get around it.

What changes the provider's view is new evidence that people want your mail. The rest of this guide is about producing that evidence.

> [!NOTE]
>
> A 0% spam rate in Google Postmaster Tools doesn't mean you're in good
> standing. People can't report an email they never saw, so the rate stays low
> while your mail is filed in spam or refused.

## Recover from a Spam Block

Work through these in order.

1. **Stop sending the refused email to that provider.** Keep your other providers and your transactional email going. To leave a provider out, add an **Email Provider** condition to your segment, for example Email Provider is not `Google`, which covers Gmail and Google Workspace (see [Filtering Subscribers](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/subscribers.md#filtering-subscribers)).
2. **Confirm your DNS records still verify.** Open **Settings → Domain**. A record removed during a site move or DNS cleanup is the most common sudden cause.
3. **Look at who you were mailing.** Check where the contacts came from, whether they asked to hear from you, and how long ago. Remove purchased, scraped and partner-supplied contacts, and anyone who hasn't engaged in months.
4. **Send only to people who expect your email.** That means two groups: contacts who clicked or opened in the last 30 days (an [engagement filter](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/subscribers.md#engagement-filters) such as `emailClicked is 30d`), and new contacts at the moment they sign up, through a [sequence](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/sequences.md#triggers).
5. **Change the email.** Providers recognise an email they've already judged. Write a new subject, address the person by name, say why they're getting it, and keep links on your own domain by setting up your [tracking domain](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/tracking.md#tracking-hostname).
6. **Check the Blocked card for that provider every day.** When several sends in a row go through cleanly, widen to contacts engaged in the last 60 days, then 90. Don't add contacts who have never engaged.

Recovery follows the provider's schedule and takes weeks of sending wanted email, not days. We can't lift a provider's block for you. The provider reverses it when the mail it sees from you changes.

### When Every Recipient Is New

Some businesses send one email to each contact and never write again: a quote reminder, a lead follow-up, a one-time offer. There is no engaged group to fall back on, so the provider only ever sees first contact, and steps 4 and 6 above can't apply as written. Do this instead:

* **Send at the moment of the request.** Use a sequence triggered when the contact is added, not a daily batch. Someone who asked a minute ago opens and clicks. The same person a day later often doesn't remember asking.
* **Make the email about their request.** Use their name and what they asked for. "Hi friend, your quote is waiting" reads like bulk mail to a filter and to a person.
* **Send contacts over as they arrive.** If your system passes contacts to Sequenzy once a day or once a week, the email is late before it starts.
* **Confirm the address when refusals continue.** Turn on [double opt-in](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/double-opt-in.md) so only people who click to confirm get the email.
* **Be honest about the source.** Contacts from lead forms, comparison sites, affiliates and partners often don't know your brand. If the provider keeps refusing email sent at request time, it is telling you these people don't expect to hear from you.

## Delivered but Not in the Inbox

**Delivered** means the provider accepted the email. It doesn't say which folder the email went to, and providers don't share that with any sender.

### Confirm It's Real

A drop in opens alone proves little, because privacy features and image blocking distort opens.

* **Check clicks too.** If clicks, replies and sales held steady, you're looking at a tracking change, not a placement problem.
* **Break down by mailbox provider** on the Metrics page. A drop at one provider points to that provider's view of you. A drop everywhere points to DNS or a shared cause.
* **Send the real email to your own mailbox** at the affected provider, and repeat it over two or three sends. A stripped-down test tells you nothing, because filtering depends on the real content and links.
* **Ask a recipient you know** to check spam, Promotions and, at a company address, their IT quarantine. Marking the email "Not spam" helps.

### Check the Usual Causes

Most cases are one of the first three.

1. **DNS records changed.** Re-verify in **Settings → Domain**.
2. **A large send to a new or long-quiet list.** Sending a freshly imported list in one go, or mailing people you haven't contacted in months, is a common cause.
3. **Complaints.** Gmail doesn't report individual spam complaints to senders. Set up [Google Postmaster Tools](https://gmail.com/postmaster/) for your domain to see your spam rate there. Keep it under 0.1%.
4. **A shared sending domain.** If you send from the free `sequenzymail.com` domain, you share its reputation. [Verify your own domain](https://docs.sequenzy.com/guides/domain-verification.md).
5. **Links.** Use your own [tracking domain](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/tracking.md#tracking-hostname), avoid URL shorteners, and don't link to third-party sites with a poor name.
6. **Content.** Less common than people assume. Make the subject match the content and keep a recognisable sender name.

Then follow [Recover from a spam block](#recover-from-a-spam-block). The steps are the same.

## Before Your First Send

A new domain, or an existing domain sending to a new list, has no record with providers. The first impressions set it.

* **Start with sequences.** Welcome and onboarding emails go to people who just acted, so they earn the best reactions.
* **Send your first campaign to recently engaged contacts.** After a migration, use the engagement data from your old provider (see [Migrating](https://docs.sequenzy.com/guides/migration.md)).
* **Never send a whole imported list on day one.** Use [Spread Over Time](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/campaigns.md#spread-over-time) and add older contacts in later sends.
* **Grow only while the numbers hold.** If clicks stay steady and the Blocked and temporary-bounce cards stay low, send to more people next time. If they move, stop growing and find out why.

There is no schedule that works for every sender. Pace limits how fast things can go wrong. Who you send to decides whether they go wrong at all.

## Before You Contact Support

If you've worked through this guide and still need us, include the following so one message is enough:

* Your company ID and sending domain
* The campaign or sequence, and which mailbox provider is affected
* The provider's reply from one blocked email
* When it started, and what changed just before: a new list, an import, new content or a DNS change
* Where the affected contacts came from and how they signed up
* For Gmail, a screenshot of your Postmaster Tools spam rate

## FAQ

### Can you give me a warm-up schedule?

A schedule sets how many emails go out each day. It helps when your mail is wanted and you only need to avoid a sudden jump. It doesn't help when a provider is refusing your mail as unsolicited, because the problem is who receives the email, not how many do. Start with [Before your first send](#before-your-first-send).

### Should I move to a new domain or subdomain?

Not to escape a block. A [subdomain](https://docs.sequenzy.com/guides/subdomain-sending.md) is useful for keeping different kinds of email apart, for example receipts and newsletters. It doesn't give the same email a second chance.

### Will a dedicated IP fix it?

No. A [dedicated IP](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/dedicated-ips.md) changes which address your mail leaves from. It doesn't change how recipients react to the email, and that is what the provider is judging.

### My setup shows as compliant. Why am I still blocked?

Compliance checks cover your technical setup: SPF, DKIM, DMARC and unsubscribe headers. A provider can accept that your setup is correct and still decide its users don't want the email.

### Other providers accept my email. Why only Gmail?

Each provider judges you separately, from its own users. Being accepted at one says nothing about another, and recovering at one doesn't carry over.

## Related

> [card] [Sender Health & Thresholds](https://docs.sequenzy.com/guides/sender-health.md)
>
> When Sequenzy warns or pauses, and how to resume

> [card] [Domain Verification](https://docs.sequenzy.com/guides/domain-verification.md)
>
> Set up and re-check your DNS records

> [card] [Subdomain Sending](https://docs.sequenzy.com/guides/subdomain-sending.md)
>
> Keep different kinds of email apart

> [card] [Metrics](https://docs.sequenzy.com/concepts/metrics.md)
>
> Break results down by mailbox provider


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